us. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you very much. i want to ask you what's just happened. the house minority leader, john boehner has said that he would consider extending the middle class tax cuts. if the only option i have is to vote for some of those tax reductions, i'll vote for it, he said, on "face the nation" this morning. what is your reaction? >> well, i haven't seen the comments. but i noticed the qualifier if my only choice is. if he -- if he's truly saying that we can, as the president called for, get a broad consensus to extend the middle class tax cuts, we should do it. we shouldn't hold that hostage for the argument about the tax cuts just for the very, very highest income people. if he's for that, i would happy. in the past, we have seen some of these circumstances in which what appears to be the offer of doing the sensible thing in the light of day, there's a little bit of a feeling of, well, if the president's for it, i'm against it, then it falls apart. >> he does